{"id":69,"date":"2009-08-30T12:45:00","date_gmt":"2009-08-30T17:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aaronkuehn.net\/tol\/?p=69"},"modified":"2009-08-30T12:45:00","modified_gmt":"2009-08-30T17:45:00","slug":"its-certifiable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aaronkuehn.net\/tol\/?p=69","title":{"rendered":"It’s Certifiable"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Certified\"<\/a>
\nI’ve been noticing more and more lately the “empty” words and phrases in advertising.\u00a0 Of course, the very fact that it’s in advertising makes it suspect…they’re trying to get our money so a dose of skepticism and buyer-beware attitude is just smart.\u00a0 And I know they’ve always been there, but maybe I’ve been bored lately and paying closer attention.<\/p>\n

When we speak we often make grammar errors or say things that we later realize were wrong or of incorrect style or just silly.\u00a0 Print is a different thing in my opinion.\u00a0 Especially advertising.\u00a0 Advertising goes past the eyes of many people before it sees the light of day.\u00a0 There are more opportunities for questions to be asked, for modifications to be made and for the message and meaning to be analyzed.<\/p>\n

A word that has caught my interest lately is “certified”.\u00a0 You can buy a “certified” used car and you can buy it from a “certified” \u00a0sales professional\/sales consultant\/customer service representative\/High Priest.\u00a0 Plants are “certified” to grow and thrive.\u00a0 Sellers “certify” their products.<\/p>\n

What does all this mean?\u00a0 What body is doing all of this certification?\u00a0 Or are they being really extra-super sly and just saying they gave these people and products a “certificate” — a piece of paper with some decal on it — and that makes for a certification?\u00a0 I suppose in court that would pass muster, but they’re messing with us and we know it.\u00a0 I don’t like to be messed with.<\/p>\n

If someone is a Microsoft Certified Server Administrator that means something.\u00a0 They studied\/took classes and passed a standard test that everyone with that certification must pass.\u00a0 There’s a testing body that administers the testing and holds people to a standard.<\/p>\n

But if you are a “certified used car salesperson”…what school did you go to?\u00a0 What training did you take?\u00a0 What independent organization tested your knowledge of the subject and bestowed your certification?\u00a0 Or was it sales manager Bobby explaining to you where the keys to the cars are kept and what margin to shoot for and what your commission will be and how to play with the numbers of a prospect’s trade-in?\u00a0 Was that the certification process?\u00a0 Or was there really NO certification process at all and the people making the commercials just threw out the word because it sounds official and comforting?<\/p>\n

I fear it is the latter.<\/p>\n

I’ve never seen schools advertised where I could get all of these certifications.\u00a0 \u00a0If I wanted to pursue a new career selling home electronics and I wanted to be a “certified home electronics specialist”, what community college offers that training?\u00a0 Where are the tests administered?\u00a0 How much do they cost?\u00a0 For how long is the certification valid?<\/p>\n

I suspect it’s all a lot of hooey.<\/p>\n

And if those begonias are somehow taking a test and being certified I want to see that!\u00a0 I can’t figure out how their branches can hold onto a Number-2 pencil in order to complete the test….<\/p>\n

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I’ve been noticing more and more lately the “empty” words and phrases in advertising.\u00a0 Of course, the very fact that it’s in advertising makes it suspect…they’re trying to get our money so a dose of skepticism and buyer-beware attitude is just smart.\u00a0 And I know they’ve always been there, but maybe I’ve been bored lately […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-69","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aaronkuehn.net\/tol\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aaronkuehn.net\/tol\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aaronkuehn.net\/tol\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aaronkuehn.net\/tol\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aaronkuehn.net\/tol\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=69"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.aaronkuehn.net\/tol\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aaronkuehn.net\/tol\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=69"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aaronkuehn.net\/tol\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=69"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aaronkuehn.net\/tol\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=69"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}